Da Balaia PORTUGAL

Great 5-day family break. Weather was amazing. Beach fabulous. And the sporting facilities were just brilliant for our kids (and the adults). The hotels facilities, and in particular the bedrooms, are however very tired. We knew this in advance, and we paid a relatively low price, but it was still disappointing compared to other Club Med resorts we've visited.

Two adults and 11 and 10 yo. kids. First Club med experience. English speaking only.
We stayed a week.

Room: huge with adjoining spaces in refurbished quiet part of hotel with balconies. Spotlessly clean. Shampoo conditioner body wash moisturiser tea/coffee, water in room. Plenty towels if needed. very quiet from other guests.

Activities: Kids don't speak much French and didn't know anyone else however happy to go to kids clubs, some full days and some dropping in and out to come find us for meals etc. They LOVED circus skills, archery, golf, tennis, football, volleyball, teen beach/pool time, games etc. They enjoyed doing the show at the end of the week and performing in the theatre. Other kids helped translate during the games if the GOs were busy and they made friends easily by the pool and in the activities.

Adult activitites - Golf two days on a course with transfer. Really enjoyed. Brought own clubs. Gym quite small but has good selection of cardio and strength machines with some free weights and pulley machines. Cardio, pilates, yoga classes on daily just turn up. Tennis can just turn up and have a go with family on a free court. No booking. Volleyball, archery and circus just turn up at the times on the schedule and have a go. Really enjoyed all the ones we did.

Food: Ready varied selection of food. Grilled fish and meats, salad stuff both raw ingredients and huge made salads with rice/dressings etc. Plenty kid safe food without it being traditional nuggets and chips. Lots of fresh fruits and juices and healthy options. Coffee in the bar is good. Drinks in the bar nice and well made cocktails. Lots of choice of diner tables with sun/shade/inside kids area/terrace. Ate once in the a la carte restaurant which was a nice change.

Staff: The staff were all friendly and polite in a helpful genuine way but not overbearing. I think this was one of the real pluses. The GOs are energetic and were always kind and playful with the kids. The staff around the pool beach bars rooms etc and just getting on with doing a great job within fuss or hassle. Enough English from each member of staff for our purposes and more from the GOs for more rapport and longer chats. Also plenty friendly English speaking other guests to chat with. French speaking guests happy to interact in English and all very polite and friendly. No issues with rude guests noise etc

Weather around 26C in Scottish October holidays every day

We recently stayed at Club Med with our 7 month old baby and really enjoyed our stay. The hotel is really equipped to make our stay as easy as possible. Things that we found useful were:
The baby corner section in the restaurant which had high chairs at every table, baby foods, yoghurts and steamed vegetables for dinner. We still felt part of the restaurant and it was kept really clean by the staff especially Roselane.

The 24/7 baby rooms which had microwaves for sterilising, bottled water and more baby food. We found this really helpful.

The baby equipment kit in our bedroom when we arrived included a baby bath, changing mat, nappy bin, bottle warmer and cot so we did not need to bring any of this with us.

We stayed in the Fado de Coimbra block which was a great location for access to the restaurant, pool and other activities such as petanque and ping pong. We could however hear the music at night time until about 11pm.

The swimming pool was a bit cold for our baby in October - it was 26 degrees - so a warm swimming costume is needed.

Access to the beach was quite easy either down a hill (a bit steep on the way back up when pushing a stroller) or via steps into the resort which was okay and a lovely place for a morning walk.

Overall we enjoyed our stay and would definitely come back!

I've yet to have a bad stay at Club Med. This was our first trip without kids and it was lovely. The Zen pool with natural filtration and little fishies was the first I'd seen like that and really cool. The beach and ocean were quite nice, and it was easy to get lounge chairs in the shade. We enjoyed archery, pickleball, yoga, and pilates - along with just reading by the water and relaxing. The buffet was as fabulous as always. Our dinner at Vasco was a bit disappointing - nice atmosphere, but the food was better at the buffet. My only real criticism is that our bed had a warm comforter with no top sheet. I was too hot to sleep with the comforter on, and too cold if I had no sheet or blanket at all. Despite that, it was the wonderful Club Med combination of being very active and totally relaxed at the same time.